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Has Twaweza improved the quality of media?

Archive 13 Apr 2015 hot | Publications

Much of Twaweza’s work is to advocate for accountability in Tanzania. Part of how we do this is partnering with media houses to promote production of public interest content. A vibrant independent media environment can raise citizens' awareness of critical issues and promote resposiveness from government. 

As part of trying to understand whether Twaweza media partnerships have been effective, we worked with Tanzania Media Fund (TMF) to conduct extensive content analysis of our respective media products. We wanted to know about the effectiveness and the quality of messages communicated.

For the study, each organization submitted a set of content (print, radio, and television) randomly selected from their respective portfolios of media products together with randomly selected media pieces not supported by either organization for comparison. Working with a TMF developed coding tool, we then systematically analysed all the pieces on a comprehensive set of criteria. Key findings show that:

  • Both TMF and Twaweza generally perform better than the control group against the measured quality criteria.
  • Overall, 72% of all TMF’s media pieces cover rural areas, against 32% for Twaweza and 24% for the control group.
  • On average, TMF pieces cited 6.7 sources, as compared to 4.1 sources for Twaweza pieces, and 3.1 sources for the control group.
  • In 34% of TMF pieces and 43% of Twaweza pieces there were no female sources, as compared to 55% pieces with no female sources in the comparison group
  • Twaweza scores lowest for presenting figures (45%, as compared to 80% for TMF and 68% for control); however, when figures are presented, Twaweza scores highest for putting them in context (52% Twaweza, vs. 35% for both TMF and control group)

For more details, read the full report

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